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Beardbrand Tea Tree Beard Oil

Expectations are high for Beardbrand, one of the most reputable names in the beard-grooming industry. This scent is a best-seller for the brand, and rightfully so: Everything in this bottle is all-natural, from the ingredients to the scent that lingers ever so subtly. This is one of the lightest blends you can find, constructed with jojoba, almond, grape-seed and castor oil.

The drip-top bottle helps limit each application to the necessary few droplets needed. If you’ve got a big, full beard, this won’t call any unwanted attention or have you looking “overly groomed”; it relaxes the hairs without leaving them too shiny or controlled. The scent lands in that same no-frills, functional place: Peppermint, vanilla and tea tree have the potential to overwhelm, but here they don’t. It’s a soft, rugged scent — crisp and woodsy, but not deep woods — that persists for a few hours and complements your laid-back aura.

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Detroit Grooming Co. The Corktown Beard Oil

Detroit Grooming Co. pays homage to its hometown with its lineup of scents, inspired by the glory days of Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood. While vanilla plays the strongest role here, it is nicely complemented by tobacco and cedarwood; the result is clean but tough.

Out of the 10 oils in this list, this one is the lightest and absorbs almost instantly. The open-top bottle makes it easy to get too much oil, but if you order through Detroit Grooming Co.’s site, you can add an oil dropper to your order for $1 per piece. This will help limit how much product you use per application, and will make your money go twice as far. And since this oil leaves a very light luster and is enriched with sweet almond oil (which is dense with vitamins A, B and E), you can apply any excess product to your face, lips, hair, and hands for a universally beneficial, healing result. (No need to waste a drop!)

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Herbivore Botanicals Beard Tonic

This beard oil is one of the best tamers of the entire bunch, making it an ideal pick for guys with full, unruly beards. Its all-natural blend of oils includes apricot, jojoba, argan, cedarwood, and bergamot to help soften the toughest, curliest strays and prevent split ends on your prized whiskers. It has a medium viscosity — not too runny, not too heavy — and takes slightly longer than most oils to absorb (we’re talking an extra minute or two, hardly a big deal).

Herbivore’s woodsy, crisp scent — led by those cedar and bergamot oils — is a good match for bigger beards as well; you’ll smell like you just retrieved fresh forest woods for an evening bonfire, so pair it with your best flannel. It gives medium shine and has a dropper to help measure however many drops your beard needs — two for shorter crops, and four or more for bushier builds.

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Brooklyn Grooming Red Hook Classic Beard Oil

With its Red Hook scent, Brooklyn Grooming is, on one hand, nodding to the NYC borough’s industrious, waterfront neighborhood. On the other hand, the brand is tipping a hat to the best beards of the high seas — the swashbuckling peg-legged pirates.

This oil makes a strong first impression with a rosemary-leaning bay rum scent, with lingering tones of cardamom and citrus. (This is one of the boldest scents in this roundup, which is a selling point for some and a detraction for others.) Hemp, sesame, jojoba, argan, and bergamot oils make it especially nourishing for your whiskers and the skin underneath. This product leaves no strays in its wake, and is one of the strongest tamers on this list should your beard rival Captain Hook’s. Expect a medium shine from this lightweight blend, and rejoice over the fact it comes with a dropper lid to help limit your intake and maximize use.

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Prospector Co. Burroughs Beard Oil

Prospector Co. strikes liquid gold with its Burroughs oil (a nod to the beatnik writer William S. Burroughs). The brand says this beard oil is an expression of the “solitary notes of nature and craftsmanship.” The lightweight concoction (made with argan, jojoba, Kukui nut, and grape-seed oils) absorbs quickly and leaves behind a mild tame with a brilliant sheen and calming woodsy scent featuring notes of pine, cedarwood, sandalwood, frankincense, and myrrh. It is one of the winningest scents of this lot. (Apply some to your pulse points for a magnified, cologne-like effect.)

The bottle's leak-limiting top (sometimes called an orifice reducer) helps measure each dose, which is key here because you’re going to want to apply more than necessary based on scent and result alone. Try to refrain, because this is precious cargo. The golden blend gets a silver medal in our book, a respectable prize when considering some of the big names in this bunch.

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Bearded Crew First Date Beard Oil

Most beard oils are created with a lumberjack-inspired scent that suggests the wearer is the owner of some farm-to-table brasserie. That’s great, but what about special occasions like a romantic first date? Engineered as an invitation for TLC, the warm, spicy scent of Bearded Crew’s First Date oil hits the bull’s eye in terms of differentiating itself from the pack.

There’s something alluring about the smell of gingerbread (highlighted by vanilla, clove, orange, and rosemary); it invites delighted “What are you wearing?” inquiries. However, you can easily overdose on this one, so be conservative with your first application (or else there might not be a second date). There’s an eyedropper top for simple measuring, but the lightweight formula distributes and absorbs easily. It tames mildly, but more importantly keeps everything soft and touchable thanks to the addition of sweet almond oil (vitamins A, B and E). It’s especially recommended for guys with designer stubble and shorter styles who need a little maintenance and proper nourishment.

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Brickell Beard Oil

While this oil is one of the denser ones of the pack, it’s still on the lighter end of the viscosity spectrum. Regardless, Brickell's opaque blend gets strays in order and absorbs just as quickly as the competition. And, when you learn about everything that those whiskers are absorbing, you’re doubly pleased. The oil features an organic-only mix of ingredients such as jojoba, coconut, grape-seed, castor, argan, rosehip, lavender, eucalyptus, and peppermint oils plus aloe, algae, vitamin E, rosemary, and green tea. (The product's density is owed to a highly concentrated blend, clearly.)

One downside is the container, which is similar to a sample-sized hotel shampoo. This makes it hard to control how much oil you’re putting in your hands. But if you pick up a simple eyedropper, you’ll be able to stay conservative with your application. Don’t let the packaging deter you: This is one of the most nourishing oils of the lot.

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Jack Black Epic Moisture MP 10 Nourishing Oil

Jack Black makes an excellent beard oil, but the MP 10 facial oil lays the benefits on thick. Because it was engineered for the entire head — hair (up top), skin, whiskers — and works as a shaving conditioner, it’s one of the denser blends of the pack. It features moringa, argan, watermelon seed, and jojoba oils as well as shea butter.

As a beard oil, the creamy consistency keeps strays in check better than the competition, and it has an almost-neutral citrusy scent — a subdued fragrance is an obvious rarity in this arena, but a major perk for some guys. (There’s a hint of sweetness, but it’s nearly as good as neutral.) And, at two ounces, it’s almost twice the volume of all the other oils. (One ounce is the standard size for most beard oils.) Be liberal with each application from the push-top bottle: You can cut down on your skincare regimen since this also works as a facial moisturizer. It absorbs quickly into both hair and skin, leaving the skin mattified but giving the hair and beard a touch of shine.BUY NOW $32.00 at Amazon.com

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V76 By Vaughn Beard Oil

With a world-famous stylist at its helm, V76 specializes in keeping guys well-groomed. This beard oil fits into the brand’s lineup of hair stylers and hair care products, with a relatively straightforward and effective approach: It’s heavy enough to tame the toughest beards (second only to Jack Black’s Nourishing Oil), and has a subtle but sexy scent derived from blue cedar.

It relies on two key ingredients — saw palmetto and safflower oil — to nourish skin and hair, and, like Jack Black, V76 has engineered its oil to be applied to the entire face as well as the hair. It’s got a pump that measures each dose — start with one for a beard-only application or double up if you want to moisturize the face and hair. (It’s a two-ounce bottle, so you’ve got plenty to work with.) If you need to look dapper for a job or special occasion, then this oil is your best bet; it even gives you a healthy sheen.BUY NOW $19.00 at Amazon.com

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Kiehl's Nourishing Beard Grooming Oil

If you’re reticent to try beard oils or if you want to fall back on a world-renowned brand, this is your safest pick. Kiehl’s does everything right, and the brand takes no major risks to stand out since it's already known for quality and effectiveness. Don’t let that underwhelm you, though: This one is a thicker blend, concentrated with oils of sandalwood, cedarwood, eucalyptus, and Amazonian praxaci seed. These ingredients condition stubborn hairs and the skin beneath your beard, and they form a balanced wooded aroma — one of the best scents in this group for its subtlety.

The oil is dense enough to soften and tame your unruly whiskers without feeling heavy, and it gives you a work-ready shine without any oily residue. By nailing the essentials, Kiehl’s has formulated a top-shelf beard oil that is a smart entry point for a beginner and a reliable mainstay for perennial growers.BUY NOW $27.00 at Birchbox.com

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